The quaint row of houses in Windsor Terrace, Sliema will be dwarfed by a new block of flats after the planning authority yesterday approved a four-storey block.

The planning authority issued a full development permit to transform 75, Windsor Terrace into four-storey apartments and a penthouse. The developer was given permission to demolish the interior of the building on condition that the full façade is kept intact.

Environmental group Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar regretted the decision made by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The height was one of the project's main points of controversy as it was in conflict with the local plan, which lays down that buildings in the area cannot exceed two storeys. The developers based their arguments on the approval of the outline development permit, which was granted in July 2006, just before the plan came into force.

Before the local plan was approved, there were no set limits and the height limitations were established only on the area's predominant streetscape.

FAA spokesman Astrid Vella said other applicants had been consistently refused permission to build more than two floors in other parts of Windsor Terrace, even in appeal stage. "Yet, now, this previously scheduled streetscape of seven untouched, identical town houses will be ruined," she said.

Ms Vella pointed out the irony of Mepa's decision, which came soon after an initiative to strengthen protection in urban conservation areas.

In December, the Mepa board had postponed the decision on the full development permit primarily because a proposed garage would have breached the condition to retain the original façade in its entirety.

The applicant was asked to submit fresh plans for a four-floor apartment block and penthouse in the middle of a row of traditional, two-storey townhouses.

The Sliema local council and the FAA had objected to the development because the original plan had included a garage which, they said, would ruin the streetscape. In fact, the garage was removed from the revised plans and the development will have to retain the full façade.

The issue of Windsor Terrace dates back to November 2004 when the first outline application was submitted and later refused. A second application was approved in July 2006, overturning a recommendation for refusal. The full development permit had also been recommended for refusal and additional points were discussed in December.